So Pawter has a 9 family connection.. but is slumming it. Because she did something BAD.
Killjoys Season 1: Discussion and Spoilers
- Thread starter JD
- Start date
Yeah the visuals were fab. And Tommy 
And Alvis, who until I just looked him up I assumed was named Elvis, is now one of my favorites. I hope we see more of him and his revolution.. which I assume we will.
And Alvis, who until I just looked him up I assumed was named Elvis, is now one of my favorites. I hope we see more of him and his revolution.. which I assume we will.
This was a bottle show that highlighted the strength of low-budget storytelling: It compels you to focus on character and ideas rather than action and spectacle. We had two sets of characters stuck together in rooms, and in both cases it was a great opportunity for exploring character and learning more about the show's universe.
I thought the episode did a great job establishing the toxic rain by showing rather than telling, just letting the reactions of the characters who were already familiar with it provide the exposition. I was a bit disappointed when they had Dutch explain it to D'Avin, because an explanation was really kind of redundant by that point.
I'm disappointed that Johnny's final "fix" to the problem was so violent. That's a darker outcome than he usually prefers. The others are so morally compromised and cynical that I don't want him to lose too much of his positivity.
I'm not sure I like it that Khlyen and the RAC are connected, that everything has been part of some single master plan. One thing I like about this show is how rich its setting is, how big and complex the universe felt from the word go. If everything turns out to be part of a single interconnected story, it makes the world feel smaller and simpler, and thus less real.
And I don't like the idea that Dutch has never been free, that she's just been manipulated by Khlyen all along. There are some really uncomfortable, gendered implications behind this story of an older man dominating and controlling a young woman's life from her childhood onward. Particularly in this episode's flashbacks -- a strange man coming up to a child and claiming to have been sent by her father to take care of her? Creepy as hell. And it's supposed to be, of course, but Dutch is such a strong and independent person that it bothers me to see her cast in more of a victim role, a woman helpless to resist a man's domination. The idea that she's been firmly under Khlyen's control all along even when she thought she was free is icky. I hope the payoff to this is that she does assert her full independence and get free of him for good in next week's finale.
Although the implication I'm getting is that the true mission he's been preparing her for is about to begin, that something will happen that will in some way justify his efforts to turn her into a weapon. In which case she'd still be under his control in a sense, even if she kills him.
Clever use of a non-Newtonian fluid as the plasma computer. This is a real thing that can be made to behave in bizarre ways and move as if it were alive just by running vibrations through it -- you can find plenty of YouTube videos of that, which is how I recognized it -- so it's a nice, low-budget, CGI-free way to create a really unusual and eerie effect. Well-done.
And now we know where the RAC headquarters station is located. I'd wondered if it was somewhere in deep space, maybe out of the system, but it's in orbit of the Quad's abandoned moon Arkyn, or at least keeping station near it. And we learn more about how it's organized, with a series of hierarchical levels. Although why does the power get restored from the lower levels upward? You'd think that if the higher levels are more rarefied and important and secret, they'd get their power restored first. (And how come their systems aren't hardened against EMP, or whatever principle that power disruptor used?)
And I don't like the idea that Dutch has never been free, that she's just been manipulated by Khlyen all along. There are some really uncomfortable, gendered implications behind this story of an older man dominating and controlling a young woman's life from her childhood onward. Particularly in this episode's flashbacks -- a strange man coming up to a child and claiming to have been sent by her father to take care of her? Creepy as hell. And it's supposed to be, of course, but Dutch is such a strong and independent person that it bothers me to see her cast in more of a victim role, a woman helpless to resist a man's domination. The idea that she's been firmly under Khlyen's control all along even when she thought she was free is icky. I hope the payoff to this is that she does assert her full independence and get free of him for good in next week's finale.
Although the implication I'm getting is that the true mission he's been preparing her for is about to begin, that something will happen that will in some way justify his efforts to turn her into a weapon. In which case she'd still be under his control in a sense, even if she kills him.
Clever use of a non-Newtonian fluid as the plasma computer. This is a real thing that can be made to behave in bizarre ways and move as if it were alive just by running vibrations through it -- you can find plenty of YouTube videos of that, which is how I recognized it -- so it's a nice, low-budget, CGI-free way to create a really unusual and eerie effect. Well-done.
And now we know where the RAC headquarters station is located. I'd wondered if it was somewhere in deep space, maybe out of the system, but it's in orbit of the Quad's abandoned moon Arkyn, or at least keeping station near it. And we learn more about how it's organized, with a series of hierarchical levels. Although why does the power get restored from the lower levels upward? You'd think that if the higher levels are more rarefied and important and secret, they'd get their power restored first. (And how come their systems aren't hardened against EMP, or whatever principle that power disruptor used?)
I'm a little disturbed that we again have a ship or space station interior represented by a warehouse with visible cinder block walls, but this show is strong enough that the story and the characters overpower that. Hannah continues to blow me away with her powerful emotional performances.
I was a little... I dunno - disturbed/amused/annoyed that Dark Matter's plot involved the same damn thing as Killjoys, on the same night: Break into a space station that looks like a building inside, knock out the power and find the McGuffin.
I was a little... I dunno - disturbed/amused/annoyed that Dark Matter's plot involved the same damn thing as Killjoys, on the same night: Break into a space station that looks like a building inside, knock out the power and find the McGuffin.
^I didn't even notice the plot similarities, because the dramatic and character elements were so different, not to mention the goals. Dutch wasn't looking for a Macguffin, she was looking for Khlyen. A Macguffin is an item that's important to the characters but irrelevant to the audience. Khlyen is hardly irrelevant to the audience.
Very droll episode title - with "Enemy Khylen"
And after recent ads on Canadian tv I'm wating for Hils to break out the VH Sauces
But overal it's been an enjoyable enough ride and will be interesting to see if we get all answers to all the questions.
Has anyone read about whether there's any option for a second season or is this a straightout 10 eps and done deal?
And after recent ads on Canadian tv I'm wating for Hils to break out the VH Sauces
Sorry, the reference is lost on me. Hils is the Company rep, right? The older gray-haired guy who hangs around at the bar and throws his weight around? I take it the actor's appearing in an ad campaign for something?
No word yet on renewal. But it seems clear to me that they're planning on a second season. Whatever this big secret thing is that Khlyen has been preparing Dutch for her whole life, it's not going to be wrapped up in just the next episode. The finale will probably just be about revealing what it is and setting up the new crisis/status quo for the next season.
So far, the ratings seem to be holding steady, or even trending upward. The August 7 episode was the highest-rated one yet in raw numbers, and tied with the pilot for highest-rated among the key 18-49 demographic. It's getting better ratings than 12 Monkeys and Bitten, which were both renewed, though weaker ratings than Z Nation, Defiance, Dark Matter, or Dominion. I'd guess that it has a good chance.
And after recent ads on Canadian tv I'm wating for Hils to break out the VH Sauces
Sorry, the reference is lost on me. Hils is the Company rep, right? The older gray-haired guy who hangs around at the bar and throws his weight around? I take it the actor's appearing in an ad campaign for something?
Yeah the older guy who was claiming he didn't know the monk at the end of the episode and yes he's been in recent tv ad campaign.
Point taken on McGuffin - I should have just said "a goal" or something. But yes, the only similarity was the basic location and mode of infiltration. It's almost like someone came up with a writing exercise - "give me a story where your characters have to break in to a space station and knock out the power to reach a goal. Aaaaand go!" From there, of course, it diverged according to characters and storylines.
Also, the facility in Dark Matter was just a station, but this was the RAC itself, the heart of the team's own organization. So the dynamic was very different in that way too.
Anyone else expecting Klyen to get it to the escape capsule with Dutch and then the facility go boom?
Or perhaps that was one cliche they avoided
So the one saving grace is that Khlyen wasn't ultimately successfully in turning Dutch into what he intended to turn her into. It was that one line, when she asked him why he chose to come back into her life now, and he said it was because she finally took on a Level 5 warrant, which signaled she was finally willing to take on a kill warrant. But of course we know that wasn't really the case.
So while yes, Khlyen seems to be part of the RAC and Dutch was just following his ultimate plan when she "escaped" and became a reclamation agent, he has actually failed in creating the killer that he intended to create. So to that extent she's forged her own path, become her own person.
Facebook spoiled this ep for me and I have now unliked the page. I will like it again (as if it cares) after the finale. And seeing there is some DM talk here I am gonna just slip out the back door until I watch this weeks ep of DM.
I'll just say, this ep was good. Very good.
I'll just say, this ep was good. Very good.